If Trump’s tariffs go into effect, they will affect countries and companies all around the world. They will impact China the most. Currently, the tariffs against imported Chinese goods stand at a staggering 145%. This is why more companies are looking to shift production away from China. This might include Samsung, where, according to Trump, he heard the Korean tech giant is planning “massive” production facilities in the US.

Samsung bringing production to the US?

Speaking during a meeting at the White House, Trump told reporters he heard about Samsung’s plan for building production facilities in the US. He was quoted as saying, “I heard Samsung is now, because of tariffs, they are going to build massive facilities in the United States. If we didn’t do the tariffs, they wouldn’t be doing that.” He brought up Samsung again during another event with business leaders.

“Even Samsung whose name isn’t mentioned here, but I heard that they announced this morning that they’re going to be building a very big plant because they want to be able to beat the tariffs. It’s the only way to beat them.”

Samsung hasn’t confirmed anything yet. However, the company did say that it is considering relocating the production of some of its TVs and home appliances to minimize the impact of the tariffs. Manufacturing those could be significantly easier compared to its mobile products, which are smaller and more complex.

Samsung will need access to skilled labor and certain types of equipment. This is the same reason Apple has stated over the years why it has continued to rely on China. It isn’t so much about the cheaper labor (which we’re sure plays a role) as the concentrated amount of skilled labor in the country.

More companies coming to the US

Samsung is not alone in considering moving some of its production to the US. Other foreign companies, such as TSMC, are also looking to step up their presence in the US. However, these changes will not happen overnight. Setting up production facilities, training staff, and scaling things up to meet demand will probably take years.

However, it’s not a bad idea for companies to diversify their supply chains. Trump’s tariffs are definitely a good motivator.